Conventional cabinet and closet drawer organizers have relatively long carriers for containers, such as drawers or wire baskets to hold objects for storage. Items placed at the back of the organizer drawers are often difficult to reach, and sometimes items within the drawer must be removed to reach a particular item, or a drawer must be removed in order to remove the item. Shelving manufacturers have attempted to solve the problem by installing complicated rail and roller systems to support and guide a container within a support frame so that an upper drawer may be slidably moved to expose the contents of the lower drawer. Existing systems usually consist of track elements integrally formed within the sides of the drawers. These conventional systems are designed for a particular drawer or frame, non-interchangeable, and usually consist of several moving parts that can wear out, causing the movable support system to not work properly. Replacement of a track system, or installation of a track system within a drawer having no track system requires precise measurement and location of the track components.
Shelving and drawer manufacturers have continued to develop improved systems to replace the burdensome track systems described above, the goal being to provide easier and more reliable access for the user to hard to reach storage areas. Many improvements have been made involving the use of rollers, but apparatuses having moving mechanical parts (such as rollers) are more susceptible to failure than those without rollers. Other improvements have involved sliding systems without rollers. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,612 discloses a shelf for a cabinet having guides, the shelf having parallel bars for sliding between two guides of the cabinet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,063 is directed toward a glide system for a basket, the glide system having an interior channel for slidable engagement with a slide means attached to the base of the basket. U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,084 is directed to a glide runner support system wherein two longitudinal members having a channel therein supporting a sliding basket. U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,554 is generally directed toward a sliding storage basket having an interlocking sliding support means for use on the base of a basket.
A problem with the newer systems is that as the drawers or wire baskets get increasingly heavier, the design of the prior art tracks and roller systems become harder to operate due to increased friction and sticking between the sliding parts. This hinders access to the contents of the drawers, as the drawers can have a tendency to stick, and sometimes not open at all. The sliding drawer system of the present invention provides a means for reciprocal movement of containers or other such organizers with minimum friction between the sliding parts. This allows for easier and longer lasting access to the contents of the containers, as the effect of friction on the sliding parts is minimized.
The object of the present invention is a novel sliding drawer system. This system comprises two opposite-facing slide members, the slide members being substantially mirror images of each other. The slide members are usually attached to opposite facing walls, such as in a cabinet. Each slide member contains a longitudinal interior channel with a slide rib running substantially the entire length of the channel. One end of each slide member, the front or first end, is attachable to its respective support structure. Each slide member is also attachable to its respective support structure at a point located within the longitudinal interior channel of each slide member.
The novel sliding drawer system also contains a drawer, preferably a wire basket. The drawer contains an outer rim that, when in use with the two slide members, can slide across a dome located on the first end of each slide member. Furthermore, two novel drawer glides are attached to the drawer along the along the drawer""s outer rim. The drawer glides can be xe2x80x98Cxe2x80x99-shaped, with a beveled upper portion, a beveled lower portion, a side wall and an inner portion to receive the outer rim of a drawer. The position of the drawer glides is on opposite sides of the drawer, such that one drawer glide travels within the longitudinal interior channel of its corresponding slide member. Thus, when the drawer is pulled out and pushed in, preferably the only sliding contact the drawer itself has with the slide members is between the drawer""s rim and the two domes located on the first end of each slide member. The drawer glides travel between a rear stop face located at a second end of each slide member, and a front stop face located at the first end of each slide member. By minimizing the contact between the drawer rim and the slide member, friction between the two is reduced, allowing for easier sliding of the drawer.